RECAP: Hawks 108, Nuggets 104

The Hawks played one of their most exciting games of the season, outracing the Nuggets and disproving Lawler’s Law by going to the by now patented Josh Smith-Al Horford high-low late in the game. Meanwhile, Corey Brewer scored every other time I looked at the TV.

Reaction Grades:[assessed 0-10]

Josh Smith: Smoove had a very activenight and, for the for the most part, chose his shots wisely. He scored some huge baskets down the stretch, one as a recipient from Al Horford in a beautifully executed high low, and the other on a break away, and-1 dagger dunk that put the Hawks up 5 with under 30 seconds to go. 7/10

Al Horford: Horford was an absolute beast on the boards and, as always, took advantage of transition opportunities by setting up shop on the block and sealing his man while the guards advanced the ball. He had one of the most important assists of the game when he found Josh Smith for a dunk late in the 4th quarter, and aside from his always stellar passing, he found a way to strip the ball from Denver’s bigs more than a few times. 9/10

Zaza Pachulia: It was one of those classic Zaza games where he just energizes the team, grabs a bunch of gritty rebounds, and somehow scores 11 points, all 11 of which coming in some awesome way. 7/10

DeShawn Stevenson: DeShawn hit 3 of 5 three pointers, so that right there is more offensive contribution than you’d expect, but his defense wasn’t as good as it has been in past games. 4/10

Jeff Teague: Since his hot start to the season, Teague has struggled more and more shooting the ball, and it showed tonight as he went 4-16 from the field. He let Ty Lawson abuse his defense throughout the first 3 quarters and didn’t really get anything going until the 4th. While he wasn’t great in the final period, he ran the offense well and hit a big 3-pointer late, while also doing a better job on Lawson. 5/10

Ivan Johnson: Ivan had a solid game yet again doing the little things, like scoring garbage points and out manimaling the manimal when necessary. 6/10

Lou Williams: Lou struggled from the field (4-13), but he got to the free throw line and did a nice job initiating the offense while Teague was on the bench. He had 6 assists to go with his 16 points. 6/10

Devin Harris: Devin had one of his best offensive games of the season, scoring 12 points on 5-6 shooting and also dishing out 5 assists to go with 3 steals. He hit his three pointers, ran well in transition, and handled the ball well in the half court. Thats all you can ask of him! 8/10

Anthony Morrow: A-Mo played only 7 minutes on Wednesday night, and in those 7 minutes he didn’t get much done. He shot 2-6 from the field and missed both of his three-point attempts. 3/10

Larry Drew: I was, for the first time maybe ever, a fan of the way LD handled Teague. When Teague was getting destroyed by Lawson, he promptly took him out, but he didn’t let him just rot on the bench like he has in the past. He subbed him back in for the 4th quarter, and Teague delivered. I’m still not the biggest fan of starting Harris at the 2, but with Korver out for tonight’s game, he didn’t really have much of a choice. Besides, Harris had a great game anyway. No point in criticizing LD in what was a solid win 7/10

The opposition: Ty Lawson was phenomenal all night as he penetrated the lane, made perimeter shots, and was active on the defensive side of the ball. He was the cog of Denver’s offense, because apart from him and Corey Brewer, Atlanta’s defense put the clamps on the rest of the team. Horford and Smith did a fantastic defensive job on the Nuggets’ front court. Speaking of Corey Brewer though, literally every time I looked up he was streaking down the court for a layup. He played a fantastic game and he forced Lawson to push the pace and look for him even after made baskets. 5/10

Daniel Christian

One response to RECAP: Hawks 108, Nuggets 104

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